Biomass
refinery developer Inbicon is taking baby steps in reducing carbon
emissions by utilizing
coal steam for cellulosic ethanol. China Energy Conservation
and Environmental Group (CECEP), on the other hand, is pummeling
coal consumption and carbon emissions with the largest
stand-alone building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) project, which
started transmitting power to the to the electric grid on Sunday in
Shanghai.

The
new 6.68 megawatt solar station, which cost $23.6 million to build
and has the ability to power 12,000 Shanghai homes with 6.3 million
kilowatt-hours (kwh) of electricity per year, was built over the
recently completed Hongqiao Station, which lies over
the Beijing-Shanghai
High-Speed Railway line. According to the latest reports,
this new solar system can decrease coal consumption by 2,254 tons and
also cut carbon emissions by 6,600 tons.

"The
project is another manifestation of China's commitment to reducing
carbon emissions to fight
climate change," said Yu Hailong, general manager of the
project's developer, CECEP. "It comes after the country set a
voluntary target of cutting carbon intensity per unit of GDP by 40 to
45 percent by 2020."

This
solar station is covered with 20,000 solar panels over the 61,000 sq
m roof and has produced 300,000 kwh of power since the operation
started two weeks ago. It is meant to spread solar energy awareness
as well as the development of environmentally-friendly railways
throughout China.

"BIPV
technology does not take up extra space, because it is integrated
into buildings' design and construction," said Zheng Jian, chief
engineer of the Ministry of Railway. "It is especially suitable
for China's eastern areas, where there are limited land resources yet
greater energy demand."

The solar
station built over the high-speed railway in Shanghai is the
largest in the world, but not the only project like it in China. The
Wuhan Station, a part of the Wuhan-Guangzhou High-Speed Railway,
received a similar integrated photovoltaic solar-powered system that
was connected to the grid back in May of this year. The difference is
that this solar station is about three times smaller than Shanghai's.
But this goes to show that China is achieving their goal of spreading
the idea of solar-powered stations and implementing them in certain
areas to reduce carbon emissions and use of coal.

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$23.6M/ 7.8M kwh/year = $3/kwh/year. To get 3 cents/ kwh you'd need to amortize the cost over 100 years which is rather unrealistic. IIRC current generation panels are expected to last 20-30 years, which would give you 10-15c per kwh as a generation cost.

This is also much cheaper than I've seen quoted for large solar installations anywhere else, so I'm a bit suspicious about it. Low labor costs are one possibility, as are unmentioned subsidies, factual errors, or maintenance of the facility being a significant ongoing cost (not a clue about what this would involve).

The site you linked for cost is ambiguous but I think based on what I'm paying and what it lists for my state those are total prices and include charges for distribution, etc. IIRC those are a fairly significant chunk of my bill, but I can't check that from work.

There are two big financial flaws with using solar power that superficial environmentalists fail to look at, if they even look at the cost. The lifetime operating costs is one of them.

The other one is the capacity factor of nameplate capacity aka "efficiency." Commercial solar power cells only have an average efficiency of around 20%, mainly because they only produce energy when the sun is out. That means you can take that 6.68MW solar plant and reduce it down to 1.34MW. Oops! Your costs just went up another 5x!

Compare this to nuclear power with a capacity factor of 90%+ and lifetime expectancy of 60+ years and you can see why solar is so expensive. Nuclear is actually cheaper than coal now.

If you want to see more metrics, I have plenty... Costs are based on power plants built in each category within the last year. Nuclear is based on the Vogtle Georgia power plant expansion.